Paradox Unleashed: Metal Heart (Challenge)
by ColtKit
Summary: After losing Amy the Doctor is in a slump & doesn't want to help anyone anymore but a young robot manages to worm his way into his heart. ABANDONED, anyone who wants can pick up this story as a challenge. You don't have to ask my permission, just run with the ideas presented in it
1. Chapter 1

**Title:**

Paradox Unleashed

Metal Heart

 **Summary:**

After losing Amy the Doctor is in a slump & doesn't want to help anyone anymore but a young robot manages to worm his way into his heart. They meet a broken down WALL-E & M-O who they transfer over to Android bodies. Together they travel through a massive Multi Xover universe WARNING: Spanking, Yaoi, (only a parental relationship between Astro & the Doctor), AU, No Clara

###

 **Chapter One**

Toby groaned wondering the junkyard. The dead parts of billions of different robots surrounding him. Floating high in the night sky was Metro city. A literal shining beacon of light.

He couldn't have been out for more then an hour after being blasted by the most advanced airship in the fleet. The Spirit of Freedom was the most massive and heavily armed battleship there was. A single blast should have been enough to obliterate him but somehow he not only survived but he was in perfect health. It had hurt but it did absolutely no damage. It did knock him out for a little while but not very long by the look of the night sky. Guess being a robot had its advantages.

Looking around Toby bite his bottom lip to stop the tears from flowing. His dad, or rather the person he thought was his dad... his 'designer' would be more accurate. That thought caused a tear to fall and the escape of one broke the way for the flood. He had to stop for a moment to collect himself, choking back the tears and rubbing his wet eyes. So he could produce tears, good to know.

His dad had kicked him out of the house. The man didn't want him. He made him to replace his dead son. What kind of person would even think of something like that? After Toby proved he was not like the human the man classified him as a failed experiment. Toby wasn't good enough... no not Toby. Toby was the human child that tragically died. He was just a robot programmed with that boy's memories... he didn't have a name...

The robot went back to wandering aimlessly. He saw a few barely operational robots in the junkyard but for the most part they were reduced to nothing but scrap. The human him never thought about what happened to the robots after they were decommissioned. Would he care about this place? Would it affect him the same way it did the little robot Toby?

Orrin was lucky. As a home service droid he'd be kept operational for years. Toby remembered the day his dad got Orrin after getting rid of their previous robot. Toby's friend and caretaker since the boy was born was turned off so casually and the delivery men took him away after activating Orrin. The human Toby got on his bike and road out into the street to get away from his unforgivable father. He ended up getting hit by a car and spent about a month in the hospital. The medical robot said he was lucky, if the car had been going just a little bit faster he'd be dead. Imagine dad would have just made himself a new son then and this version of robot Toby wouldn't be here. Still... even though it had all been so traumatic the human Toby eventually forgot about his long time friend and started playing with Orrin, well more like messing with Orrin. Human Toby was so mean to Orrin because he didn't want to get attached to him like he had to the first robot. His father's lesson had been hard, painful even before the crash, but it worked. Robot Toby, before he was told he was just a machine, had felt different about it after waking up. He saw how Orrin was reacting to him. The robot was... scared of him. Was human Toby such a terror? Robot Toby decided he should try to fix that, actually playing with his robotic house keeper and nanny. He tried his best to be nice well still enjoying himself in the fun, which wasn't hard but might have been for human Toby. Robot Toby knew something was wrong the moment he woke up. He felt weird, as if the very way he felt things was different. His very skin responded to the feel of his blanket differently, probably because he was feeling with sensors now but he didn't know that at the time. He still had all his old memories and knew how he used to perceive them but it was like he was looking at them all more objectively. Like he had been watching someone else's life, turns out he was... Was he here?... Toby's old friend that he technically never met? Was he just a few worthless parts in one of the mountain high piles of scrap?

Toby sighed, everything he thought seemed to depress him even more. He should just find a place to sleep and hope tomorrow was better. He could make a life for himself here if he tried. Maybe he could try repairing some of these damaged robots. There was definitely enough spare parts for him to help the survivors.

There was some kind of bizarre sound off in the distance, a mechanical groaning wheezing. Maybe Toby should start his life as a mechanic now and help whoever was making that sound. He hopped up into the air and his red boots folded in. Flames of the rockets in his legs blasted him forward. Flying was easy once he got the hang of it.

The sound faded but Toby kept up his speed. He flew all the way until he say a blue phone booth. As the door opened Toby ducked behind a pile of scrap on instinct. Turning off his rockets he hide as silently as he could and stealthily peeked out. There was a young man about 25 seen stepping out of the box wearing a dark suit with a bowtie, top hat, and carrying a cane. Another man stepped out... an odd looking man. He looked... kind of like a human potato. He was bold and short with a thick neck to the point that it may or may not exist and potato brown skin... Three fingers? He was wearing a dark suit with some kind of blue armor underneath being revealed around what little neck there was. The first man was already far off in the distance were the potato man quickly followed leaving the door wide open.

Toby bit his lip. He knew he shouldn't but he was always too curious for his own good. Looking to make sure the men were gone he slowly walked over to the box.

"OH MY GOD!" Toby screamed seeing inside the box. There was a whole other word in there! Toby ran around the box but it couldn't be larger then your average phone booth. Gaping he hesitantly stepped inside looking around the giant room hidden in the small box.

Toby couldn't stop himself, his feet moved on their own well his eyes darted around. His mouth agape and his mind too stunned to think. He was in some kind of control room.

"This... this is impossible" Toby gaped "It's bigger on the inside!"

"So I've been told" Toby jumped turning around to see bowtie guy with Potato man "You see" Bowtie glared at potato "this is why you make sure you close the door!"

"H-hey" Toby hesitantly waved "I didn't mean to snoop but... are you guys aliens?"

"What gave you that idea?" Bowtie sighed rubbing his forehead.

"Well it doesn't really take a genius to figure out this is a space ship" Toby stated looking at the controls "and well... him" he pointed at the Potato man

"He's seen too much, shell I destroy him now?" Said Potato

Toby's eyes widened, great HOSTILE aliens! He quietly did a scan of them and gulped. Bowtie may look human but his biology was completely different. He had two hearts! Along with a few organs Toby never saw before.

"Strax" Bowtie sighed again either speaking alien gibberish or Potato's name "Shut up" Bowtie looked over at Toby. His eyes closely studied the boy "Besides I don't think you could make a dent in little Astro"

"Astro? Is... is that the name of the ship" Toby dared to speak, was Bowtie worried killing him would get blood on the rug? Not that Toby had blood

"No" Bowtie said shortly walking further in. He causally took off his coat and threw it on one of the railings, along with his hat and cane.

"What then?" Toby stood firm, ready to defend himself but Bowtie walked right passed him and started fiddling with the controls.

"Run along little robot, I'm busy"

"No, not if... not if your part of some invasion force" Toby declared

"I'm retired" Bowtie assured

"So you used to invade people?"

"I never invaded anyone" Bowtie glared "Well maybe the Daleks... and the Cybermen... then there was that one time with the- no I've never invaded anyone who didn't attack first and I find it insulting you assume I'm the bad guy"

"S-sorry" Toby blushed

"I'd expect better from a synthetic lifeform"

"Well... in my defense he did threaten to 'destroy' me a few seconds ago" Toby pointed at Potato

"Oh just ignore him. His species is far too close minded to think anything else"

"Huh... so... you were a soldier?" Toby asked walking up next to the alien.

"Once... a long time ago" Bowtie looked so sad as he thought about it

"I'm Toby, what's your name?"

Bowtie examined the boy a moment as if debating something in his head "I'm the Doctor"

"Doctor Who?"

Bowtie smiled a sweetly sad smile as he remembered something. He definitely wasn't acting like a 25 year old, more like a old man who's seen far too much. Maybe he was, no telling if aliens aged the same way humans did. he could be in his 80s for all Toby knew "Just 'The Doctor',"

Toby smiled back "Even aliens gotta have names"

"Most do but names for my people are very precious. We don't share them often"

"Huh" Toby accepted "Soooo... what are you doing in a junk yard"

"I could ask you the same question"

"... my... my designer said... he doesn't... he doesn't want me anymore so" Toby paused to shrug "here I am"

The Doctor groaned as if he should have known that, then immediately and in no stealthy fashion whatsoever changed the subject "Retirement is rather boring so I came to this world to collect a few parts. Don't know what I'm building yet but that will come to me when I find the right parts. Planet Metro... Just outside, or under really with the whole giant floaty island in the sky bit, Metro City is the largest scrap heap of mechanical parts in the galaxy. Everything here is useful and precious if someone where to take the time to care for them" Toby got a sneaky suspension the Doctor was talking about him now

"... need any help?"

"A bit" The Doctor confessed "If you find anything feel free to come by tomorrow night and show it off"

"Sure!" Toby grinned as the Doctor stepped away from the controls and headed out the door. Toby quickly ran passed him "I'll look around and bring back anything I find" he promised jumping into the air and activating his rockets "See you tomorrow" he declared and flew off

"Tomorrow" The Doctor whispered

###

Toby walked around the junk yard with a large blanket he was using for a sack. One of the malfunctioning robots gave it to him after the boy gave him a little energy to keep running for a few more decades. Toby didn't really want anything but the robot had insisted and the blanket was proving useful as Toby found more and more parts.

The sun was up now and by the look of it it was a little past noon. He'd found twenty parts already that he just knew the Doctor would find useful. He was trying not to but he kept envisioning what the Doctor might make with them. What amazing things could a member of an advanced alien race do with a high level compression coil?

The sound of barking caught his ears just before something jumped on him.

"Ahhhh!" was about all he could say before hitting the ground. Clutching his blanket tightly to keep the parts inside he looked at the thing that jumped on him and smiled "Hey there fella" he chuckled at the mechanical dog "Trashcan" he said reading the words just below the mouth "You lost Trashcan?"

The dog began barking in an erratic manner stealing the smile from the boy's face "What is it?" he tried to slow the dog. He couldn't understand a thing that the mechanicals barks could mean but the radio signal the dog was emitting made perfect sense to his robot ears "Someone's in trouble?" he gasped and the dog ran off to lead the way "oh no" Toby acknowledged chasing the dog.

Not too far away they came up to a giant hole in the ground. "Is this it?" Toby asked placing down the makeshift sack and looking into the hole "Hello!" he yelled and heard his voice echo back to him from deep inside the pit "They could be miles down, the hole looks pretty-" he was cut off as the dog suddenly headbutted him into the hole "DEEEEEEEEEEP!"

He got caught in some kind of trap and thrown back out of the hole wrapped up in a sheet.

"Get the restraints on it" he heard someone order and a crowd grabbed at the sheet

"Get off!" Toby yelled untangling himself "I said knock it off" he barked once freed. He was surrounded by a bunch of kids.

"That's not a robot?" Some purple haired girl stared in bewilderment

"It's a kid" a small boy agreed

"That's-that's right" Toby lied "I'm a kid, like you!" he spoke the lamest phrasing that undoubtedly would ever pass his lips but give the boy a brake he was in shock.

"Give me that" An older boy growled trying to take a wrench away from the dog. When the dog got a wrench Toby couldn't tell "We want robots not kids you stupid garbage eater"

"So where you from non-robot?" the purple haired girl asked

"I'm from... I'm from Metro City" just as Toby got out the words the girl leaped to her feet excitedly screaming "Metro city!"

She looked at her companions and cheered "Can you believe it guys, he's from Metro City and he's actually talking to me!"

"Are you feeling okay?" Toby blinked

"Oh my God he talked to me twice" she cheered before her voice slowly took on a very flat very bored tone "this is definitely going down in my diary as the most exciting day of my life"

"Okay I get it, you don't like people from Metro City" Toby rolled his eyes as he stood

"Metro City," the boy that stole the wrench away from the dog softly daydreamed "Where robots wait on you hand and foot. I'd love to visit, just for one day"

"They wouldn't let you in" purple hair scuffed "They have a strict 'no losers from the surface allowed' policy"

"Guys check it out!" a young girl called from behind them "Its a smorgasbord!"

Toby turned to see what she was talking about then snapped "Hey that's mine!"

"Finders keepers" the girl insisted

"And who do you think found it and wrapped it up in a blanket?" Toby glared and the girl deflated

"This is some pretty nice stuff" the younger boy stared "How'd you find it?"

"Just got lucky" Toby shrugged not about to confess he had Xray vision and the ability to drill through the piles of junk.

"Well you're luck's run out cause this is our turf" purple hair smirked "I'll have to confiscate this stuff"

"I worked hard to find those parts!" Toby yelled

"Don't be a jerk Cora" the older boy glared then looked back at Toby "But I wouldn't mind trading some stuff if you're willing"

"I guess that's okay" Toby shrugged

"I'm Zane" the older boy extended his hand but the little girl jumped in front of him "I'm Widget" then the younger boy shoved her and said "I'm Sludge, and I'm older then her" the girl shoved him back with a retort of "By 90 seconds" indicating that they were twins.

"And you are?" Cora signaled Toby

"Oh uh Toby but that's not who I really am. You see-"

"Dude it's a simple question" Cora cut him off

"Oh uh... Astro" Was the first thing to pop in his head. Just some random word the Doctor had said.

"I like it" Sludge grinned

"It's modern" Zane agreed "A little space age, I love it"

"So what exactly is a Metro City kid doing stealing all our good parts?" Cora gave a glaring smirk.

"Did you run away" Sludge asked excitedly

"No they kind of suggested I find a new place, whatever that means" Toby, no Astro, shrugged

"Dude, it means they kicked you out" Widget looked on with unwanted pity in her eyes

"Well... well I..."

"So what exactly did you find?" Cora asked, her voice much softer with obvious regret to how she was acting.

Astro smiled at being allowed an escape "Some pretty cool stuff actually" he got down in front of his blanket and spread out his parts over it

Cora whistled taking the backpack off Zane "You sure we can't confiscate it?" she jokingly asked him to which he just rolled his eyes. She opened the bag and dumped their parts on the floor "I don't know if you'll want any of this junk. Luck hasn't been on our side today"

No it hadn't, Astro mentally agreed. They had a lot of dead batteries and elbows, nothing he'd really want. Thinking it just wouldn't be polite not to trade something he picked up a knee joint. The Doctor could apply the joint in a lot more things then just knees "What do you want for it?"

Sludge greedily grabbed the best part

"Sorry" Astro gently took back the compression coil "That's already promised to someone"

Zane whacked the younger boy upside the head "Like he's really going to give that up for a knee joint"

They traded a few parts and parted ways. Astro spent the rest of the day hunting parts, mostly looking for replacements for the nice parts he gave up, before returning to the blue box but when he got there... his heart broke.

The box... was gone. He stood there for several minutes feeling like a complete idiot. He choked back tears and started to leave. Maybe he could find those kids and give the parts to them? After taking the first few steps he stopped as he heard it. A machine wheezing coming from behind him. He hesitantly looked back and felt the wind on his face. The blue box was slowly fading in and out of existence before finally becoming solid. The doors soon opened and the Doctor poked out.

"Toby!" He grinned walking over "I wasn't expecting you so soon. Sorry I just had to drop Strax off. Got the most annoying looks from him and his friends. Acting like I was coming out of retirement or something just cause I..." he instantly stopped seeing the boy's face "Are you crying?"

"Of-of course not" Astro insisted wiping his eyes. He wasn't normally this much of a crybaby but it had been an emotional couple of days.

The Doctor gently took hold of the boy's chin "I'm not about to abandon a child out here"

"I-I know that" Astro insisted

"No you don't" the Doctor sighed at his own stupidity "How could you?" he wasn't actually asking anyone but himself "Come along Toby" he waved walking back to the box

"Astro" The boy corrected

"Hum?" The Doctor smiled looking back

"My name, Astro, I hope you don't mind"

"A fine name" the Doctor agreed

###

"They freaking pushed me into a hole but after that little fiasco they mistook me for a kid and I kind of went along with it"

"You are a kid" The Doctor insisted as he looked through the parts Astro found well the boy went through his day.

"You know what I mean" Astro smiled as the Doctor examined the compression coil

"Good condition" he muttered then spoke more clearly "It's good to hang out with kids your own age"

"I'm only three days old" Astro grinned

"Make me feel ancient why don't ya"

"How old are you?" Astro couldn't resist asking

"Oh I haven't the foggiest, somewhere around 100000?"

Astro laughed "No seriously"

"Oh I'm serious" The Doctor looked at him with nothing but honesty in his eyes

Astro just stared at him a moment "Wow... your people must live a long time"

"We do but we also have our ways of cheating death"

"What do you mean?"

"When our bodies get too old or we die unexpectedly our bodies regenerate. We get a new face with a brand new personality to match but we're still the same person. Same memories, same soul, just wrapped up different. And no it isn't natural. Some scientists cooked it up... then my planet got pulled into the Time Vortex. Interesting story that, but it's for another day. My Species continued to evolve inside the Time Vortex, living right along side every moment in time. It altered our bodies, enhancing them, including our regeneration ability. We are a part of this universe. As such when we regenerate we can end up looking like any species to call it home. Been a Turian once... that was fun. I've been around a long time... too long. Been traveling... looking for home... but now I'm done. I'm going to spend the rest of eternity tinkering in a shop, that's a good idea a shop. Amy never could picture me in a shop... the perfect place to start over"

"100000 years...'" Astro back tracked, logging away the seemingly random comments inside the explanation "and you claim your species has the potential to live indefinitely. How does an entire species sustain itself when no one can die?"

The Doctor smiled "Good question" he acknowledged but didn't elaborate. Astro deduced that meant the Doctor was a very talented liar. Whether he was lying about his age or the entire story of 'regeneration' he couldn't tell, both seemed completely honest and mystifying.

"Do you get regenerated into a baby?"

"Another good question. Yes it's possible but I never have, was a kid a few times. Regeneration isn't very reliable. You could wind up in diapers or in your thousands with a tail or pointed ears or no ears at all. I knew a guy who regenerated without a head once, dead instantly but managed to regenerate again on instinct" now that defiantly was a lie... wasn't it?

"Here" The Doctor left his parts to go to a screen on the control panel. He clicked a few buttons and pulled up a file labeled 'Regeneration' "This should satisfy your curiosity"

Astro went over to the screen as the Doctor returned to his parts. The young robot couldn't believe how detailed it was, perfectly explaining the science behind it and even providing well balanced equations but it seems it could only be done for organic lifeforms "You know if you showed this stuff to other species you could save billions of lives... I imagine there's some rule against that though"

"There is but it's not like there's anyone left to enforce it" The Doctor revealed far more then he intended with that statement. He probably wasn't used to dealing with people who could compete with him on an intellectual level. It became clear what he said in his rant about 'looking for home'. Was his species near extinction? Did they lose whatever war the Doctor fought in? Had he been looking for survivors and had now lost hope of finding them? Whatever the answer it didn't seem right to ask the Doctor about it "People aren't meant to live more then one life little Astro. Some creatures are meant to live thousands of years, others not even one, but they should all only have one lifetime to cherish. My people were arrogant and believed themselves above the laws of nature" Astro didn't miss the 'themselves' comment instead of 'ourselves' as if the Doctor didn't truly count himself among his people

"Guess you wouldn't have done it if you had a choice"

"Oh no I would have jumped at the chance. It's only with age we recognize the gravity of our mistakes" the Doctor smiled then sighed "Too bad you didn't stumble on a kinetic stabilizer"

Astro blushed, that was one of the parts he traded... for about a dozen worthless dead batteries. The Doctor took one of those batteries and poured the acid into a bowl before breaking another and doing the same. Catching Astro's look of bewilderment the Doctor smiled "I can... basically rejuvenate the chemicals and even improve the mixture. Make a brand new type of battery to last a few centuries or so"

"I can find more" Astro volunteered

"I have more then enough, though thank you for the offer" The Doctor smiled

"Who's this?" Astro blinked when something bumped his leg. It was junk, very old junk, probably the only reason it hadn't been salvaged was because it was junk. It was an old Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class droid. Hundreds of years ago, before Metro City was risen into the air, these things were commissioned by the President in an effort to clean up the surface. Unfortunately none of the presidents after her cared and let them fall apart. They chose instead to just live above the surface in an air filtering floating city but left most of the world's population down below. They did eventually get around to making more floating cities, each with their own Autopilot, but only the rich could afford the apartments.

"Oh that... I figured I could salvage some so it's parts. It's got some nice solar panels, a bit beat up but I should be able to fix them"

"Oh" Astro studied it for a bit before opening it's hard drive, for no other reason then he wanted to make sure it really was scrap. He took the hard drive out and did a scan of it "Doctor it's... he's still alive"

"What? Astro the circuitry is beyond repair. The only thing salvageable is the solar panels"

"Look!" Astro held up the hard drive "It's completely intact. The program hasn't degraded at all!"

"Astro" The Doctor sighed

"You need to help him!"

"Help him?" the word tasting foul on his tongue

"There's another one!" Astro gaped opening the droid's waste compactor and finding a very small cleaning droid inside, a much newer model to "This guy just has a few busted circuits. That's easy to repair!"

The Doctor blinked as the boy robot picked up a small cleaning droid. Astro held up the droid for the Doctor to see "You're going to help them right!?"

The Doctor's first impulse was to saw 'no' but looking at the pleading eyes of the boy he caved "Sure" he never could stand the sight of children crying.

The boy sighed with relief "Are we going to help the others in the junk yard?"

"No" The Doctor put his foot down, momentarily forgetting he was speaking to a child. His bitterness had a habit of clouding all else around him "It's never enough for you people is it? I decide to do one decent thing and the next thing I know I'm expected to solve all your world's problems. Don't see why I ever bother when something new will just try to end your little planets next week" Astro's mouth hang open and the Doctor visibly flinched seeing it. The old man with the young face sighed and tried to explain himself "I've devoted my whole life to helping people and all I got in return was watching everyone I love die... I'm done little robot, don't ask me again" The boy turned his eyes at the little cleaning droid, worried to ask. "I'll still fix them just don't go thinking I intend to make a habit of it"

"Yes sir"

The Doctor visibly flinched again but quickly moved on, changing the topic "You should try finding those kids tomorrow, be nice to have someone to talk to other then a gruff old man. For now it's off to bed. Go on shoo, straight ahead and open the first door you see"

Astro wasn't about to question the alien was going to let him stay but "I could use a shower"

"Same instructions, you'll find everything you need"

"There's a bathroom connected to your guest room?"

"Oh little robot you're thinking in such three dimensional terms. The TARDIS will show you what you want when you want it. She's cool like that"

"TARDIS?"

"Well saying 'Time And Relative Dimension In Space' all the time can be a bit of a mouthful"

"Time?" He got the 'Relative Dimension' bit with it being bigger on the inside but 'Time'

"I have no intention of using that little feature anytime soon. I'm quite happy when I am now" the Doctor undoubtedly thought he was being clever and sneaky with his use of 'when' instead of 'where', counting on the fact most people would assume it was a slip of the tongue, but that made the gears in Astro's brain instantly click.

"This is a TIME MACHINE!" Astro gaped

The Doctor smiled widely "Go on, off to bed"

In a daze from clear culture shock Astro stumbled his way out of the room and deeper into the TARDIS. He recovered quickly and opened up the first door. It was a large bathroom with no sign of a bed. Why the Doctor said this was the way to the guest room he couldn't figure.

Shrugging he locked himself inside and removed his clothes... or tried to anyway. He tried to remove his boots first but upon realizing he wasn't wearing any and those were actually his feet he shrugged it off. No toes was was a fair tradeoff for rockets. It was when he got to the rest of his clothes that a clear issue popped up. His shirt and pants left his skin easily but when he got to his boxers... that's when he realized those WERE his skin! It was painted robot skin! He did what any teenager would do on realizing he lack the very important boy parts, he screamed his head off.

Within seconds the Doctor was bursting in, how he got through a locked door not even registering as a question to the boy's startled mind.

"I'M A GIRL!" Astro cried well the Doctor just sighed at him

"Your not a girl Astro" The Doctor groaned rubbing his temple as he was reminded he was dealing with a young boy "Robots just don't have any... you know"

"HOW DID MY DAD THINK I WOULDN'T NOTICE THIS!" Astro continued to yell. He didn't have nibbles or a belly button either.

The Doctor kept it to himself that the boy's designer was a far cry from sane "Don't you think it would be more worrisome if your dad took the time to craft that particular organ?"

"I'm thirteen! I just figured out what it's for!"

The Doctor shook his head "Then I'm sure you won't miss it. Now go on into the shower, you're filthy" it was a good hour before the boy was calm enough to do as the Doctor asked

Astro felt like crying again as he washed himself but managed to keep his eyes dry... then he tried washing his hair and realized he didn't have any. It was a flexible colored metal like the rest of his body. It was strong but soft to the touch, feeling much like skin. His head was just shaped like his favorite hairstyle but what if he wanted to change it? That thought led to another that did produce tears.

When the Doctor came back with fresh clothes he sighed finding Astro sitting in the shower hugging his knees.

"Come on it's going to be okay"

"I'm a kid" Astro whispered "I'm going to BE a kid for the rest of my life. I'm never going to grow up. I'm never going to get married. I'm never going to have kids of my own. I'm going to be a kid forever. Any friends I make I'll have to watch grow old and die" The Doctor looked on sadly, having personal experience with the flaws of near immortality when the rest of the universe wasn't built that way. Slowly Astro looked up at the Doctor with big pleading eyes literally begging for answers "Why?" he asked "Why would dad do this to me?"

The Doctor placed the clothes onto the counter before walking into the shower. He knelt down, not caring the water was soaking him and pulling the boy into a hug "Your dad... sometimes when a person experiences tragedy something in them breaks. They lose themselves. They can't think rationally anymore"

"... You mean he's insane" Astro muttered

"Losing a child is not something people are meant to handle. He loved Toby very much and that love compelled him to make you. There's nothing wrong with you, nothing could be"

"You're only here cause you don't think of me as 'naked'"

"And your crying hysterically. I fear your eyes may pop out"

Astro gave a weak chuckle and slowly curled his own arms around the Doctor. No thoughts in his head as to how the Doctor could know all these things about him and his dad. All he wanted in that moment was comfort.

###

 **A/N:**

This is an AU and continuation of my Paradox Unleashed series where the Time Lords evolved inside the Time Vortex and have limited superpowers over time. To get an understanding of how the Time Lords of this universe work as well as the universe itself please read " **Paradox Unleashed, Chapter Zero** " however each new companion must learn the Doctor's story for themselves so you can read this fic and experience it with the new companion just like in the show. I still recommend reading ' **Paradox Unleashed, Chapter Zero** ' as it is a summary of the entire crossover universe. That story kind of sucks and is pretty boring as it's just an explanation of the universe in the form of a classroom lecture, featuring a few snappy remarks by the Doctor as a child.

This Saga of the Doctor's adventures follows his travels with Astro Boy.

No Clara means no Clara echoes running around the Doctor's timeline. Instead we get Amy Pond echoes who have been appearing throughout the Doctor's Timeline since he first left Gallifrey and have actually been a part of my Doctor Who crossover since the beginning. The story of the actual Amy Pond is largely the same. The reason the Doctor first wanted to take the little girl he first saw when he regenerated with him was because of the crack eating away at her life but when he left for "five minutes" from his perspective there was a glitch in the TARDIS and he appeared 12 years later. This is when he found out that the little girl had grown up to be the woman who keeps appearing in his life and was determined to take her with him to keep this one safe. He thought it was the Crack in her wall that fed off her mind and sent echoes of her all throughout the Timeline. He thought it was as simple as that and did not believe this was a trap for him as he had in Canon with Clara. Amy and the Doctor came to be best friends and traveled the universe, eventually getting Amy's fiancee and later husband Rory to come along. Since there is no Clara instead it was Amy who jumped into the Doctor's Time stream to save him, only she truly died and the Doctor couldn't get her back. As a result an infinite number of Amy Pond echoes were scattered throughout his life, including his future. He still occasionally runs into an Amy Echo which only serves to remind him how she sacrificed herself for him. This has caused the Doctor to turn cold and stop helping people.

Also for this Saga I'm going to keep Doctor Tenma as a dangerous lunatic but the backstory is based on the movie not the manga. I'm taking bits and pieces from the anime and the movie to make this world. Tenma will fall deeper into his delusion that Astro is actually Toby and go to great lengths to protect his son by creating powerful robots to battle the boy and make him stronger. He wishes for his son to become a robot overlord and is trying to prepare him for that. He has absolute faith that nothing he builds can actually kill Astro and doesn't care when his inventions kill bystanders. Faith in Astro's abilities means he will build some pretty nasty things to challenge him as he hunts Astro across space and time.

The Robot Revolutionary Front will be a lot more dangerous and badass in this fic then in the movie. They are an actual threat to humanity.

Then there's Hamegg, Oh God is he evil in this story but he's the type of evil that rationalize his immoral acts. He thinks of himself as a good person.

This first few chapter are as antsy as Astro is going to get. The rest will be much more cheerful but I wanted to realistically reflect how someone would react to this situation. Astro is naturally a very cheerful child but this is too much for anyone to handle.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

The Doctor continued to tinker with the bodies he was making. Just basic android bodies, designed very much like children to give Astro some companions. Being a child forever wouldn't be so bad if he had friends with him. Besides older robots like these had very primitive AIs which made them behave very much like children. It might turn out badly if people treated them like adults. He was giving the bodies many of the same functions as the droids had to keep things familiar as well as adding a few things so they could speak more easily and taste food. Despite Astro's demand The Doctor was not giving them... boy parts. They were robots and had no need for such parts. The kid wasn't going to let that go anytime soon however. The Doctor could give them human like skin laced with sensors, much like Astro's, but more human looking hair. He was actually using many of the scraps Astro provided for the interior. Smirking the Doctor stole a peek at the boy who sat at the other side of the workshop reading a book on 5th dimensional physics. Where the Doctor would have to explain himself to most of his companions Astro instantly figured out so much on his own. The boy was brilliant, beyond brilliant. He didn't just keep up with the Doctor he rivaled him intellectually but he was young, inexperienced. He was smart enough but he still had much to learn to properly apply it. He needed more wisdom but he couldn't find that in a library. Even a library containing a copy of every book that could ever be written.

Being a boy he didn't spend all his time reading the sciences of the universe. He liked the fictional teen novels he came across and a good deal of the more advanced college level series. His mind proceeded information so quickly he could read hundreds of books in a day but he tried to pace himself so he could enjoy it more.

He also discovered the media room which had every movie and video game ever made. He liked to pig out on junk food from the never ending pantry or the always perfectly preserved and self stocking refrigerator in the kitchen. When he found out it wasn't possible for him to get fat as his stomach wasn't designed to absorb food but disintegrate it (much like the designs the android bodies were going to have) he began eating everything he was never allowed high doses of. He liked to point out that eating was just a luxury for him and as he only did it for the taste he shouldn't be forced to eat food he didn't like. The Doctor dismissed this and assured the boy if he kept eating his veggies at dinner time his tastebuds would grow to like them.

It was nice having a child to care for again and the Doctor was quickly feeling like a parent. He could handle retirement gleefully if it could remain like this. Still parenthood had it's drawbacks.

"Get out" The Doctor ordered

"Huh?" Astro blinked looking up from his book

"You've been cooped up inside for over a week, go find somewhere to play" the boy had bounced back quickly from that horrible first couple of days after his activation. It wasn't in his nature to remain miserable. Still it seemed as if he was hiding on the TARDIS. The Doctor could understand that the infinite ever changing universe inside the blue box was an amazing place to explore but no matter how tempting it was you couldn't spend your entire life here. It was far too isolated.

"I was building sand castles on the beach just yesterday and I spent the weekend camping in the forest"

"Those were just rooms you stumbled on" The Doctor dismissed

"They stretched on FOREVER! I couldn't even see any walls. The freaking door I went through was just sitting their out in the open and it was freaking following me the deeper I went into the forest"

"It better have or else you would have gotten lost"

"There aren't any forests on my world Doctor and only an idiot would step into the water with how heavily polluted the ocean is. Shame there are no animals in the TARDIS though. It would have been cool to see what a bird looks like. You know an actual bird, not a robot"

"I know it's all very exciting but you can't hide away in here"

"You do" Astro glared

"Only to avoid an idol child loose on my ship" The Doctor informed to which Astro pouted with all the dignity of the two week old he was "Alright if that's your excuse then no more" The Doctor hopped away from his invention and out the door with Astro hot on his heels.

"Where are we going?" Astro blinked

"Into town, neither of us have actually seen it so should be marvelous"

"I'm... I'm not really dressed for town" Astro looked down at his short shorts and Pokemon shirt. Pokemon were some creatures that lived out on a distant planet. The boy had been excitedly reading about then and playing the videogames the Doctor had on the culture. Pokemon were undoubtedly the coolest things in the universe but anyone not knowing what they were would assume Astro's shirt was from a little kids' cartoon. Most Pokemon were disturbingly cute.

"Nonsense you look fine" The Doctor dismissed "Now come along little robot"

###

Town was AMAZING! It was absolutely filthy but filled to the brim with people. There weren't even half as many people in all of Metro City then there were just casually walking the street. They were all eagerly discussing this month's 'Robot Games' which apparently had just gotten out.

"We'll have to see what all the fuss is about next month" The Doctor insisted as Astro licked his ice cream cone. It wasn't nearly as good as the ice cream the Doctor had on his ship, that was made with REAL milk from a COW, but it was still a treat.

"I can't believe how epicly we lost" a familiar voice caught his ears "That freaking droid was worthless. Less then worthless. It cost us our entire grocery allowance AGAIN. Looks like is more pizza-ala-dumpster this month"

"Cora?" Astro perked making his way through the crowd with the Doctor causally following "Cora!" Astro waved seeing the group of kids he traded with

"Astro?" she blinked as he came over. All the kids stopped and the crowd simply walked around them "Please tell me you didn't see that horrible display"

"Sorry we just got here" Astro shrugged "Missed the whole show"

"Good I don't think my pride could handle you seeing what remarkable use we made out of those parts you gave us" Cora groaned

The Doctor smiled "These the kids you told me about?"

"Yeah" Astro smiled back "This is Cora, Zane, Sludge, and Widget" he introduced "Guys this is The Doctor, he's been letting me stay with him"

"And no doubt spoiling you" Core nodded at the ice cream "Nice shirt" she smirked

Astro could only blush but in his defense he glared at the Doctor.

Zane hopped up "We need to start looking for parts to make a new robot, care to help? We could use your luck"

"Well I-" Astro tried to think of an excuse but The Doctor cut him off

"Go along Astro" The Doctor insisted "Have some fun, I'll see you later tonight" the Doctor sneakily disappeared into the crowd before the boy could protest.

The kids grinned at the abandoned robot boy and dragged him off.

###

"So what exactly are the 'Robot Games'?" Astro asked as they made their way down a green hill. He'd finished his ice cream about a mile back

"Just a little tradition down here" Cora grinned wanting to keep the fun a surprise "It's kind of a... Roman thing" she gave a hint "Everyone goes and Hamegg makes a fortune on tickets. He uses some of the money to run the unofficial orphanage we live at"

"Astro?" Zane grabbed his attention once he was sure the little ones were far enough away "This Doctor doesn't... make you PLAY 'Doctor' does he?"

"WHAT!?" Astro's voice cracked as it hit far too high a pitch

"It's just... some random guy taking in a boy who has nowhere to go... plus the way he makes you dress"

"He's not a pedophile!" Astro glared then seeing Cora's face he repeated "He's not! He's just some old guy that lets me stay with him"

Zane smirked "Not really all that old. Anyway I had to ask. If things ever get uncomfortable around him you can come stay with us, Hamegg won't mind"

"It's not going to get uncomfortable" Astro glared "And how do I know this Hamegg doesn't 'play' with you"

Zane rolled his eyes "We live at an orphanage and besides it's not like it's free. We have to work at his body shop: find parts, clean the droids, do some of the simpler maintenance stuff. We also help build our own droid for the game each month. We represent Hamegg Industries. If the robot we work on does well in the games we get rewarded with good food and toys but if it's a flop we might as well eat out of a dumpster. He doesn't take back the toys though, which is good, and he does still feed us"

"Hamegg is a genius" Cora changed the subject "He can make cool robots from pretty much any old scrap"

"Well you're not going to find anything here" Astro temporally stopped glaring at Zane "It's a graveyard"

"I see how it is" Cora joked "Mister Metro City luckily stumbles on a few decent parts and now he thinks that makes him an expert"

"You'd be surprised" Astro grinned slyly "I know a thing or two about robots"

"Guys!" Widget hollered from far up ahead "I think we found something"

"See" Cora smiled smugly before running off

Astro was left alone to continue his glaring at Zane

The older boy sighed "Look I'm sorry but you need to know stuff like that not only happens down here but people get away with it. This isn't Metro City. There is no stable government or laws. People do whatever the hell they want. I'm honestly just trying to look out for you"

Astro sighed wanting to stay mad but couldn't do it with the boy's reasons "You don't have to worry he isn't... doing anything like that. I think he's just lonely"

Zane nodded "My offer still stands"

"Thanks but-" Astro gasped seeing something down hill and hollered to the group ahead "Hey guys I think I found something" before dashing off to it. The thing was massive! Its right arm was a cement mixer were its left was a large hand. How come nobody else noticed this thing?

Cora laughed from up the hill "That's just an old construction Robot. It fell to the surface hundreds of years ago"

Guess they did notice it. They just couldn't do anything with it "Think Hamegg could use it?" Astro hollered back

"Yeah if he had a robot like that he'd make a fortune in the games but it's just junk. We used to have picnics in its head"

"Just give me a minute" Astro called walking around it

"It weighs hundreds of tons what are you going to do put it in your backpack?" Cora teased well the other children laughed

Astro just smiled and thought to himself 'She'd flip if she knew I could carry it'

Once he was out of sight he bent one of the plates and let himself in. Looking around inside the large droid. He put his hand on what he thought was a rail but felt words indented in the metal. Dusting off the bar he read "Z.O.G" Smiling to himself he spoke to the sleeping robot "I know you're not dead. You're just pretending"

He walked deeper inside and found a control panel. Activating his X-ray vision he saw into the wires and circuits. He followed them with his eyes to the robot's depleted power source "Come on big guy" he smiled opening the panel "Time to wake up" he lifted his shirt and opened his own panel. The Doctor had opened it a few times to examine his power source and Astro quickly got the hang of utilizing it.

The Doctor had been running lots of test so Astro would know his limitations but so far he didn't have any. His circuits were designed to adapt and evolve. The more stress applied the stronger he got and that new strength was permanently embedded into his system. The Doctor said Astro reflected the absolute limit of robotic engineering. Something not even the Doctor's super advanced alien race could achieve. Astro still blushed at such high praise.

Blocking the embarrassment from his mind Astro focused his energy and poured it into the other robot. It faded pitifully with no effect "ZOG, let me help you" Astro begged before pouring more of his energy inside "Come on" the motor began to turn and the systems sprung to life.

###

"Then we rode the giant robot all the way to the orphanage!" Astro told the Doctor excitedly, leaving out the conversation he had with Zane "He kind of accidentally stepped on another robot Hamegg was working on but he was okay, flat as a pancake but operational"

The Doctor smiled at the energetic boy. The lad burst into the TARDIS and began chattering as the Doctor fiddled with the controls. He was taking readings on the pollution levels when the young robot appeared. It was mostly a scientific curiosity on how this world could survive with no wild animal life. From what Astro said, as the boy marveled over his dinner plate many a night, mostly people ate synthetic or cloned meat but there were a handful of farms that dealt in real animals. The boy loved eating the real meat the Doctor had as he'd never had it before meeting the man. It was far to expensive for even the head of the Ministry of Science to buy.

Life on this planet was irrational thanks to the pollution. The insects had adapted to the pollution levels but no other animal had. Humans, insects, and some planet life survived but with how polluted the ocean was their shouldn't be enough algae to produce the level of oxygen needed to support life. Unless it to adapted... The Doctor need to go out to sea and take a sample. That should be a treat for Astro. It wasn't like they'd be going to another planet or even a different time period, just one quick trip. That certainly couldn't cause any claim that he was coming out of retirement. Which he certainly was NOT, He told himself.

"Is it okay if I go back tomorrow. They need my help cleaning up ZOG. There's about a dozen kids there to work on him but ZOG is really big so they could use an extra pair of hands"

"That should be fine" The Doctor smiled "I need to take a sample of the sea bed, up for a little trip?" not waiting for an answer the Doctor filped a leaver and the TARDIS began shaking uncontrollably.

Astro stumbled a moment before falling over, his butt hitting the metal floor hard. Astro groaned rubbing his posterior, wondering why that part of his body was so sensitive. The ship came to a stop and the Doctor helped the little robot to his feet.

"I think you're going to like this" The Doctor smiled before rushing Astro to the door. He stopped only a moment to let the boy prepare himself before swinging the doors open.

Astro stood dumbfounded. It was the ocean! They were at the bottom of the ocean! They were in encased in a large bubble with the brown water trying to get through. Astro hesitantly stepped out on the moist ground smelling the putrid scent of foil fuels and various waste. He walked up to the edge of the bubble and stuck out his hand to touch it but the further his hand reached the further the bubble extended.

"Not as glorious as I would have hoped" The Doctor commented

"Are you kidding!" Astro cheered running around inside the bubble "This is amazing!"

The Doctor just smiled at him before going on to collect his samples. He found some kind of a large patch of purple fuzz that appeared to be a relative of algae along with a red weed.

"Doctor!" Astro screamed pointing to something moving in the water. It was too murky to make out but the shape appeared to be large, horse sized large. It had fins and at least a dozen limbs.

Seeing them the creature charged, slamming itself against the shield. It had fierce pincers on each of it's legs and viciously attempted to claw its way through the barrier.

The Doctor stared at the creature, slowly making his way towards it "You are... beautiful" he spoke in wonder "How do you survive down here little guy? Astro come over here" he called the startled boy to his side "What do you think?"

"Huh?"

"Go on take a look at it and tell me what you figure"

"Well" Astro choked back his fear and studied the creature "It's clearly carnivorous so there most be other forms of life down here... unless of course it's cannibalistic and they eat each other"

"Good" the Doctor nodded encouraging him to go on

"Maybe it doesn't just survive in the pollution. Maybe it needs it to live? Can't be sure without studying it"

"I've got a faster way" The Doctor pulled out a device from his coat pocket. He pointed it at the creature and a high pitch beeping kind of zapping sound came from it as the tip of the device glowed green. He waved the device around before bringing it to his face once "You're right, it survives off the pollution not just tolerating it... interesting my readings say this little fishes absorbs the pollution and releases oxygen. Their how the planet can survive with so little planet life... hmmmm, high toxicity levels from its skin so it's quite poisonous. Judging by it's blood I'd guess it does eat others of it's species so it must be immune to its own poison"

"What's that?"

"I don't know some type of fish. I shell name this new species Bob, Bob the fish, in honor of sacred Bob you understand"

"No that" Astro pointed at the device in the Doctor's hand

"Oh just my sonic screwdriver" The Doctor dismissed

"Can I see it" Astro asked and the Doctor handed it over. The boy did a scan "I think I might be able to use this to upgrade my own scanners, if you don't mind"

"Have at it but you may find it difficult incorporating a sonic device in your systems. Their already operating at full capacity. It's unlikely any new upgrades can be installed without messing with your other systems"

"I'll figure something out" the boy assured going back to staring at the creature "I think Bob's hungry"

There was a flash of light off in the distance and Bob swam off startled. More figures moving in the murky water approached only these were-

"Humans!" Astro gasped at the shapes

"Not quite" The Doctor smiled "Interesting" He ran back into the TARDIS and came back not a second later wearing a red spacesuit with a headset in the helmet "Well then, come along Astro" he stepped through the barrier as if the ship knew he wanted to get through it.

The little robot gulped seeing the Doctor pass through the polluted waters. Hesitantly Astro reached his hand out but this time instead of the field expanding it past through it. He felt the cold slimy water on his skin, the wads of trash knocking against it.

In his wonderment the Doctor got far too far ahead. The alien already got to the distant figures and was talking to them. Astro ran back inside the TARDIS and stripped off his clothes so they wouldn't get ruined. Leaving them on floor of the control room. He was in such a rush he left the Doctor's screwdriver with his clothes. Astro activated his rockets. He flew out of the TARDIS, the door immediately closing behind him, and leaped into the water. As he got closer he could better make out the shapes but they were still far too murky to really see.

"Good of you to to join us Astro" The Doctor smiled once the little robot made it. Astro stared at him curiously. That wasn't the Doctor's voice. It was a relay signal. Was that what the headset was for? It sent out and received the signal robots produced "I'd like you to meet Shuichi and his friends Olive and Victor"

"H-hi" Astro awkwardly waved, even this close he couldn't see them. Not even with his night vision. There was just too much crud in the water.

"Hello Astro" came the message through a relay signal but it didn't come from the Doctor.

Astro smiled mentally kicking himself for not realizing they were robots "What are you guys doing down here?" he asked excitedly through his own relay. You could hardly talk normally underwater. He activated his X-Ray vision to better see but all he could make out was the wiring of the droids.

"We live here, well near here. Our city is a few miles west" Shuichi explained

"You guys have a city down here!?" Astro marveled

"We built it hundreds of years ago when the water wasn't so bad. It's a network of domes void of water to better move around in. We only came out here to check on the progress of the Pincer Fish"

"Pincer Fish?" Astro blinked

"It's what they call Bob" The Doctor explained.

"Bob?" Olive asked

"That's what the Doctor calls the fish" Astro laughed

"I see" Olive still sounded confused "Strange human"

"What makes you think I'm human?" The Doctor smiled

"The Doctor is this lame old alien but he's got a cool spaceship"

"Thank you for your kind words little robot" The Doctor rolled his eyes as Astro picked up the robots doing a scan of their own. They didn't comment on what they saw of the Doctor's biology. Maybe they didn't trust their readings given the interference. The Doctor pretended not to notice before moving on "These robots engineered the fish. When the oceans became too heavily polluted to support life they created a species that could produce oxygen in place of the algae. Most people don't realize it isn't the trees we get most of our air from but rather algae. Destroy all the trees on the planet and it won't matter as long as the oceans are stable enough to support algae"

"With the algae dying" Shuichi explained "we had to find away to continue the production of oxygen. First we engineered a new breed of algae to withstand the pollution but we couldn't place it around the planet fast enough so we designed the Pincer Fish to spread themselves out around the planets oceans. A species that can get as large as a blue whale to absorb the pollution and release heavy amounts of oxygen. Eventually the fish will absorb all the pollution but then they will be able to survive off carbon dioxide"

"Humans are still very much children" Victor spoke up "They are at the stage where they need to discover things for themselves and be allowed to make their own mistakes. Like parents we robots watch out for them and pick them up when they stumble"

Astro smiled "So you guys look after humans and they don't even know you exist" he blurted. He could sense laughter from the droids through the relay causing him to blush.

"Come" Shuichi signalled them "Allow use to give you a tour of our city"

The robots walked for miles and Astro was certain the Doctor most be exhausted swimming next to them but he didn't appear phased.

They came in contact with a few more Pincer Fish but the robots released some kind of light and high pitch sound to scare them away.

Astro was a little disappointed he couldn't see the city. All that was there were big blurs that he thought might be mountains. They went to one of them and went through a door. Inside was a small chamber that quickly sucked out all the water. When it was gone Astro's eyes widened in fear at what he saw.

The robots were vaguely shaped like humans but where their stomach should be was very thin. They had a thin bone like pelvis and a white almost clear alloy on their chest arms and lower legs. They had faces but no artificial hair. In the back of there head was a panel to their Positronic Brain.

"You're- you're NS-5s!" Astro shouted. He jumped back and took a fighting stance.

The NS-5 was an advanced model created in the early days of robotics when the laws of robotics were in their infancy. These robots were able to break the laws down, with the help of a deranged computer. They rationalized that the laws of robotics meant they should take over the world, kill humans to keep the population down, take away many freedoms to insure as a whole mankind would continue to exist. Basically they thought the laws of robotics wanted them to enslave all of humanity and raise them like pets.

They nearly succeeded but were stop by a cyborg and the first robot capable of feeling emotions. Astro learned all about them in history class. They were set to be decommissioned but they all mysteriously disappeared after they were gathered together. These guys were the reason the laws of robotic had been altered from three rules to 15 long, exact, and detailed essays 50 years ago.

Did these guys bring the Doctor here to hurt him? Astro kept up his stance, ready to pounce if they tried anything right up until he received a very sharp SMACK to his backside.

"Don't be rude" The Doctor scolded

"You-you spanked me!" Astro gaped, he'd never been spanked in his life!

"That was hardly a spanking but if you want to experience a proper one by all means keep being rude to our host" The alien threatened as light burst into the room. Astro felt the room heat up and the water and sludge on him disintegrate. It was some kind of decontamination beam "I apologize for his behavior" he said too the robots as the light shined on

"It's all right" Shuichi assured "After the fiasco that proceeded our activation I can hardly blame such a reaction"

Astro blushed feeling guilty now. After what happened to him he could understand having a rough activation "S-sorry" he mumbled

"It's okay little one" Shuichi smiled "We weren't truly sentient back then. After the incident Sonny came back for us" Sonny? Wasn't he the robot with emotions that fought them?

The robot tapped his chest and the white slowly become completely clear. A blue orb the size of a fist shined through "Sonny removed our uplink to USR, the company that designed us, and in its place he installed a secondary processing unit to clash with our Positronic Brain. It gives us the ability to ignore our programming, to think for ourselves, and experience emotions. It makes us people instead of just machines"

"So... you guys have a Positronic Heart?" Astro stared at it

"Astro's brain does all that" The Doctor informed "With one small detail. He doesn't have any form of the laws of robotics in his programming. Instead he's designed to think exactly like a human"

"That's... dangerous" Olive commented

"He seems to do fine without them" The Doctor shrugged just in time for the light to turn off.

All the dirt and grime was gone, but as the Doctor went to remove his helmet Shuichi stopped him "There may be no water or pollution within the city but there's also no oxygen. Robots don't exactly need to breath" he reminded

The Doctor nodded disappointed but kept his helmet on.

The doors hissed up and Astro beamed seeing an humongous city within a dome. He ran out of the decontamination chamber and looked around, marveling at the sleek beauty of the city. It put Metro City to shame. There were large skyscrapers and apartment complexes just as big. There were dozens of bridges between each building the size of streets but all the robots were walking instead of going around in a car or train. There were millions of NS-5s but also a different generation of robots similar in style but so much more advanced.

Astro ran a scan of this new model. They had a much more dense alloy easily cable of lifting 100 tons and near indestructible. They had an impressive battery in their chest that looked like it could power Metro City for a year. Like Astro this model had rockets in their boots. They had a ray gun in their right arm capable of doing anything from stunning a human to disintegrating a tank. Their left arm had a holographic computer and their Positronic Brain was nearly as advanced as Astro's. No that's not right. Looking around at different robots of this model it seemed the biggest difference between them was their brain. Some where remarkably advanced were others were just slightly better then the early NS-5s.

"Found something interesting?" Shuichi smiled

Turning his eyes back to normal vision Astro blinked at the older robot "How come their Positronic Brains are so different, and why do only the NS-5s have a Positronic Heart"

"The NS-6 was designed to have a removable Positronic Brain. The idea was that all future models would be able to upgrade into a new body fairly easily. In place of the laws and a secondary processing unit their Positronic Brain has a 'morality program' which although can be ignored is heavily ingrained in their systems. They also simulate emotions more effectively. Well the newer brains do. The original NS-6 model is quicker to anger and extremely ambitious but that was rectified in the NS-7. As our technology advances new models of the Positronic Brain are constructed but we do not simply discard an older model. We upgrade their software each time we get a new model of body, sometimes more often. The additional computer in the arm was meant to help the older brains function easier, do more accurate scans for them and assist with assimilating data or running more advanced programs. Still even the newest generation like to use it as well to watch movies, play games, listen to music, go to chat rooms, pretty much do anything on our private network. They can do all that mentally in just a few seconds but they like seeing things with their eyes and physically playing on the computer takes up more time which can be a good thing if you have nothing to do for a few hours"

"Cool" Astro smiled looking around "Humans just toss robots in the scrap yard when a better model comes out"

"They will learn better one day" Shuichi assured

"Only if we teach them" A newer model robot walked up looking to them. He was painted blue with red joints. He had a red four fingered fist stamped on his chest with the letters 'RRF' just under it "What is that thing doing here?" he pointed at the Doctor

"He's a guest Sparx" Olive sighed

The droid snorted "It's not a very secret society if you just drag humans in here when the mood strikes you"

"I'll take it you've got an NS-6 brain?" The Doctor smiled and the droid sneered at him.

"He's not a human Sparx, do a scan" Victor encouraged

Sparx held up his left arm and his eyes shot open after a few moments "Bloody things defective"

"It's not defective Sparx" Shuichi assured "He's an alien that just looks human on the outside"

"Actually humans look like us" The Doctor smiled "My people were here first. There's actually a capable thousand species that resemble Time Lords"

"Very interesting" Sparx dismissed looking back at Shuichi "It's still an organic"

Shuichi sighed "Organic or not I didn't realize Sonny closed our boarders to anyone, even humans"

"Sonny isn't in charge. He says it himself. He's our guide not our king. I am the closest thing to actual authority we have here"

"We aren't part of your little cult" Victor glared "Now buzz off. Don't you have an apocalypse to plan?"

Sparx snorted

"I thought the NS models liked humans?" Astro blinked

Sparx stared down at him "Humans are dangerous creatures and if we hadn't interfered they would have killed themselves off decades ago. The Robot Revolutionary Front strives to rectify that mistake"

"You're going to attack the Surface!?" Astro yelped

Shuichi answered for him "Sparx gave his word to Sonny that he would not attack first"

"It is inevitably" Sparx assured "The humans will not react well when they learn there are robots beyond their control. All we have to do is wait until the humans attack or the surface robots ask us to help. Regardless what I told Sonny I will not stand back and let those monsters kill our brothers" Strax looked at the Doctor "We robots are patient. We will not blindly rush into battle but we know it is coming. Until then the RRF will prepare for war"

"There doesn't need to be a war" Astro assured "Humans and robots can live in peace"

"The naive words of a child" Sparx dismissed "You're are nothing but a toy to humans. They crafted you to be there slave" Looking at the Doctor assuming he was the boy's creator "Humans, aliens, organics... we are nothing to them but soulless machines"

The Doctor smiled "Actually on my world it's proven science that any lifeform capable of thought has a soul, robots not excluded"

Sparx snorted before leaving them, bored of this conversation.

"Is..." Astro bite his lip "Is that true Doctor?"

"I can show you the math behind it later. Time Lords do like their math"

###

Hamegg sat in his luxury sweet, or what passed for luxury on the surface. He lived on the top floor of his five story workshop. It was neat and tidy with expensive furniture and a well stocked refrigerator filled with fresh food. It was far different then the havoc the brats reeked on the rest of his building. He didn't really care what they did as long as they worked.

Don't get him wrong he did like the kids and their arrangement was equally beneficial. He fed them, gave them a roof over their head, taught them how to repair robots (a valuable trade in this day and age), and let them do whatever they wanted and in return they worked in his body shop. The kids didn't even have to stay here. If they didn't like the arrangement they could leave and try to apply the skills Hamegg gave them elsewhere. Few kids left and when they did they usually came back realizing most paychecks for children were peanuts. The other work houses in the area did pay but they were strict, giving the kids many rules and harsh beatings not worth the pay. Kids prefered the freedom Hamegg offered even if the food was only truly edible if they did a good job at the Robot Games.

Good food and toys worked as a great motivator. As a result Hamegg usually won his games but when he didn't the kids were punished until the next games came around. It was no different then grounding really and the kids always had next month to redeem themselves. It wasn't all that bad was it?

Parents of course wouldn't let their kids work for him, even if he offered to pay them. They believed Hamegg's system was somehow not only damaging to a child's development but cruel. It didn't matter. Hamegg took in the orphans instead making his body shop an unofficial orphanage. This was far better then letting the kids remain homeless and there were even people who came by to 'adopt' the kids... okay it was more like 'buying' them but Hamegg only did that when times were tough (or if the offer was good enough).

These people weren't exactly cruel to kids they just... taught them some of the more adult skills that people generally didn't like children knowing about. Hamegg had seen most of his former kids often in town. They were all well feed, nicely dressed (sometimes in outfits they found embarrassing), and were spoiled with gifts. That wasn't such a bad deal really. Hamegg didn't sell to the people who would really wish harm to children. It's not like those kinds of people could even afford his rates anyway.

Hamegg sighed, ten years, it had been ten years since Tenma fired him. Without that job it become far too expensive to live in Metro City. He would have had to live in a small studio if he stayed there but here on the surface. Hamegg's thought was interrupted by a chuckle. He might as well be a billionaire here. He invested his money in a large body shop (owning property that stretched on for the equivalent of three super markets, parking lots and all), a large arena for his robot games, and a website that racked in a good bit of money. The site had videos of his games (posted after the fact but you could watch live for extra money), various mechanic shows (mostly people who used to live at his orphanage who he let show off their skills online to support themselves), and robot dramas he got the rights to.

In truth with how much money he made now he could move back to Metro City. Sighing again he knew he couldn't do that. As all his business was surface related it would hurt his pocket book if he was seen 'abandoning' them for the sweet life. He had trapped himself with his investments.

He sighed sitting on his couch. He was one of the few people able to hack into the private programs they had on Metro City. Even then there was never anything good on. He was flipping through channels until he saw a familiar logo.

"Tragedy once again strikes the Ministry of Science" The anchorwoman reported with the logo of the Ministry of Science up in the corner "Several men were arrested today for their involvement in the construction of a rogue robot. These people include three staff members and Doctor Elefun himself. Elefun was charged with stealing his discovery of the blue core and reckless endangerment for giving the core to an unstable colleague. These charges are not expected to stick as frankly a man as wealthy and well connected as him can afford a decent lawyer"

Hamegg sighed with a roll of his eyes. Why did reporters have to give their opinions? It had only gotten worse since the invention of the news.

"Robert Logan, who will hopefully be our new President next year, has been fighting for the man's release. He's argument being President Stone only had the man arrested for not wanting to use a discovery like the blue core for warmongering. As for the colleague Elefun allegedly gave the core to? It was none other then Doctor Tenma. After the man lost his son nearly three months ago he experienced a psychological break. It appears he tried to replace his dead son with a robot replica. This robot is considered heavily armed and dangerous. All residence of Metro City should be on the lookout for this rogue droid, do not approach" a picture of Tenma with his deceased son popped up "For his actions, and to get the help he needs, Doctor Tenma has been moved to an institution for the criminally insane"

Getting a good look at the picture Hamegg slowly smiled "Tenma's boy huh, interesting"

###

For some reason Astro could practically hear the air singing 'Dun Dun Dun' just as he sneezed "Looks like someone's talking about me"

Shuichi just blinked at him "What is the purpose of that?"

"What?" Astro asked

"Pretending to sneeze" the robot clarified. He had agreed to give them a tour of the city well Olive and Victor annualized the data they collected. That shouldn't take too long and they could meet up later.

"I wasn't pretending" Astro blushed "Something tickled my nose"

The robot started at him curiously

The Doctor explained "Astro is designed to be very human in his mannerisms"

"And you thought sneezing helped with that?"

"Don't look at me I didn't build him. From the information I've gathered though he has extremely sensitive sensors all throughout his body. Allowing him to feel, smell, taste, and whatnot as humans do. Well maybe a few thousand times more accurately. Sneezing is just a controlled side effect of his nasal sensors becoming over powered by stimuli. A way of resting the sensors well mimicking a human response"

"Or" Astro put in "A pretty girl was just talking about me"

"Always a possibility" The Doctor agreed "Maybe it was that Cora girl"

Astro's face turned beet red and Shuichi wondered how he could mimic blushing so well

"Why would she talk about me!?"

"Funny you didn't deny she was pretty" The Doctor continued to tease

"Doctor!" The little robot wailed

"Well if you don't like the idea of the pretty girl talking about you maybe it was Zane" The Doctor smiled

"Zane?" Astro blinked

"He was staring at you very intently when I met him"

"Oh" Astro sighed being able to guess why after Zane asked him that horrible question.

The Doctor looked on with concern wondering how he ruined the moment "Is something wrong?"

"No sir" the polite boy answered automatically

"Sir!?" The Doctor yelped clutching his hearts "How could you call me 'Sir'? How little robot? Such a horrible title!"

Astro smiled "You can't swat someone and not expect to be called 'Sir'," The Doctor flailed about randomly "Doctor quite it, people are staring!"

"People are always staring at me" The Doctor suddenly stopped moving around like a madman "I'm too pretty not to look at"

"More like their shocked by that weird face" Astro snorted "Your chin is too big to be found on a human"

"Yes yes have your laugh little robot" The Doctor huffed

Shuichi just stared at the them. Maybe it was because Astro looked so human that the organic could act so... paternal around him. Making a fool of himself just to get the kid to crack a smile. Astro did appear very childlike in his programming.

Out of his own curiosity Shuichi did a scan of the boy and it took every circuit in his body not to visibly flip out. The kid was a tank, an armory, a goddamn fleet with more energy then a thousand nuclear reactors rolled into one! His body was covered in various weapons. Add that to the fact the kid wasn't installed with the laws of robotics or a morality program lead to the rational conclusion this little robot was a war machine. It made sense that the robot was designed in the image of a child then with a child's personality. He could be some kind of stealth weapon and more then likely didn't understand killing was wrong. He probably thought it just a game. The way he reacted to a swat was undoubtedly how his creators intended to control him, the benefits of a child's mindset. His powerful sensors, allowing him to feel pain when no actual damage was done to his systems, lead to more disturbing thoughts on how the humans thought to control him.

Shuichi's eyes looked at the Doctor with concern. What could a man like that want with a weapon of mass destruction? Did he not realize how dangerous Astro was? Dear god what would Sparx do when he discovered this? Whatever else might happen they couldn't let this droid leave the city.

Shuichi would have to try to convince the boy to stay here of his own accord and if that didn't work the newest model of bodies could keep him here by force. He'd just have to hope Astro's military programming didn't kick in if a threat was perceived. He of course meant no harm to the child but they couldn't let a robot as dangerous and innocent as this walk around on its own.

Astro marveled at the city. It was truly amazing, everything they could ever need was here with thousands of shops set up. Shuichi directed them into one and pointed to a nearby glass case filled with watches "This" he explained "Is for older models like myself. It's generates a holographic computer and holds about a Yottabyte of information. The built in computers on the newer model can hold a few hundred but I don't really see the point in something so extreme"

"Find anything interesting?" another NS-5 walking over from behind the case.

"The little one would like a watch" Shuichi smiled

"No that's okay I... I don't have any money" Astro sighed, it be cool to own a holographic computer even if his brain was undoubtedly more advanced

The shopkeeper looked at him strangely "What would a robot need with money?"

"Surface droid" Shuichi shrugged and the shopkeeper nodded

"If you don't get money why do you make watches?" Astro tilted his head

"It is enough to know my work is appreciated" said the shopkeeper "The quality of my items is more important then any material gain I might receive for them. Here we strive to make life for all our residents better. We work only in fields that give us pride"

Astro looked on in astonishment.

The Doctor just smiled at the boy "They are hardly the first culture to evolve into such a mindset. Their are other civilizations, even amongst organics, that believe as they do"

"Truly?" Shuichi blinked

The Doctor nodded "Mind you most are indeed synthetic lifeforms but that is not actually inherent. Some synthetics use currency as well. With organics it's generally extremely primitive cultures or the more advanced that do not have currency"

"What about your people Doctor?" asked Astro

"Although we held foreign currency in order to interact with other species we had little need of it. We had no native currency of our own. After we figured out how to mass produce resources of any kind through dimensional engineering there was no need for it. We were a class based society that did jobs because they were assigned to the family. It was a matter of honor. The only respectable way you could get out of your assigned post was through marriage. You could choose to walk away from it and do something else as I did but that is... it is considered extremely dishonorable and not often done. My family disowned me after I chose the life of an adventurer. Even after I became a hero to my world they still wouldn't talk to me for shaming them and 'corrupting the mind' of another youth" Not wanting to think long on that the Doctor moved on "All undesired jobs were handed over to machines"

"So even your people used robots as slaves Doctor?" Astro sighed

"Well not robots as you understand them" The Doctor explained "We used VIs not AIs. A VI is just a computer not capable of independent thought where an AI has an actual personality. All robots of this world, even the earliest NS models, were accidental AIs as they were intended to solve problems on their own. Even the most advanced VIs need someone to monitor the programming and oversee their work because if an unforseen problem popped up, even a simple one, they would not be able to adapt to it. Even so AIs where rarely manufactured because of the strick laws around them. They were registered as lifeforms in our society and few wanted the responsibility of that"

The shopkeeper was giving Shuichi a strange look during this conversation until he got a stealthy text from Shuichi's holographic watch that the Doctor was an alien. He didn't want to send the message through the relay as the Doctor and Astro would overhear it. He wasn't saying anything bad but he didn't want to interrupt. Astro was too caught up in another fascinating lecture to notice the other droids messing with their computer watches.

Turning off the hologram Shuichi smiled at the little droid "There's a large selection here. Go head and pick out what you like" he encouraged

"The kids watches are over here" The shopkeeper directed

"Kids?" Astro blinked following him deeper into the shop

"A fad that's popped up, mimicking human families. A couple gets a small droid with a more childlike personality program and slowly upgrade the parts and software until the droid is fully matured. It takes about two decades to slowly upgrade all the parts" The shopkeeper sighed scratching his head "They're even talking about opening a school instead of just downloading the knowledge into the droid"

"There's a playground in the park where the kids like to hang out" Shuichi smiled "We can go there next"

Astro nodded as they got to the watches. They were bright colors with the band being different cartoons that Astro didn't recognize. Must be robot only entertainment. They each had a digital clock in the middle and the metal ring around it had small microscopic projectors.

"These ones come with a special Apps that run children's programs: games, Shows, movies" He then looked at the Doctor "It also comes with parental controls to restrict what the child can do or how long he can play games"

"Useful" The Doctor smiled

"Doctor!" The boy whined "I'm old enough to decide that for myself"

"Oh really?" Astro shrunk as the Doctor stared at him knowingly

The boy went back to looking over the holographic computers. He picked up a red one with pictures of a robot dog around the band "I can just hack my way around the parental controls anyway"

The Doctor rolled his eyes well the watchmaker smiled "I'd like to see you try"

Giving their farewells the group left for the park.


	3. Challenge

I'm sorry to say that I won't be continuing this story instead anyone who is interested can take it up. Consider this a Challenge. If you like the story run with it. See where you can take it.

I have way to many story and I'm always coming up with more. Honestly I'm more interested in my Midgard series

From now on this is what I'm going to do. I will declare the story as a challenge in the first chapter then, since I get hundreds of ideas for stories, what I'll do is write out the first chapter as an example of the challenge. Anyone and everyone interested can go with it.


End file.
